Exclusive! Akshay Kumar on Kolkata: It is heartbreaking to know Globe Cinema is gone

Akshay Kumar was in Kolkata on Monday to promote his upcoming film Raksha Bandhan. Directed by Aanand L Rai and written by Himanshu Sharma and Kanika Dhillon, the film also features Bhumi Pednekar, Sadia Khateeb, Sahejmeen Kaur, Deepika Khanna and Smrithi Srikanth. The latter four actresses are Akshay's sisters in the film. The actor, actresses and director met the media at a press conference at a theatre hall in Kolkata.

Akshay, who was spotted in a candid mood, talked about his association with Kolkata. When he was asked to say something in Bengali, he replied, “The obvious thing to say in Bangla is Ami Tomake Bhalobashi. But I want to say something else instead.” Then the actor recalled his stay in the city in the early 80s. “This is not the first time I am here in Kolkata. I came here multiple times. But I don’t know how many of you know that I used to work here in Kolkata. I worked for two years, 1984 and 85. I worked in the Globe Cinema near New Market. The sad thing is today I came to know that the cinema hall has been pulled down. I asked the person who was driving, ‘Globe cinema abhi bhi hai?” He said, “Tod diya. Bandh ho geya.” That was heartbreaking. I watched so many movies there,” he said. 

Further recalling his Kolkata days, Akshay said, “In those two years in my life, I made a very good friend called Anil Punjabi. But eventually, we lost touch with each other. I met him once later. With Calcutta, I have a lot of memories.”

Globe Cinema was restructured as a mini-mall with multiplexes. The old single-screen theatre was built in a heritage building of the 19th Century. In 2016, the reconstructed Globe cinema started its operations with a twin-theatre multiplex, over 100 retail stores and a food court.